Alice Englert

“Define good.”It's a challenge young Lena (Alice Englert) asks Ethan (Alden Ehrenreich) when they first meet and when they say their goodbyes. On the surface it's a response to whether or not the book she's reading (a collection by Charles Bukowski) is worthwhile. On a deeper (but not too deep) level it comments on the true nature of a young woman born into a family of “casters cursed to the dark side.” But from my vantage point, that of a critic readying his review, it was a plea.

'Beautiful Creatures' stars Alice Englert and Alden Ehrenreich in what some have called the "'Twilight' replacement," but as they've told us, the film is anything but. Based on the New York Times bestselling Young Adult novel by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, it follows the character of Ethan Wate, a Southern and scholarly teen aching to get out of his boring town until he falls for the new girl at school, Lena Duchannes, a witch with super-charged powers. See, it's nothing like 'Twilight' at all.I had a chance to sit down with these two upcoming stars during their press tour stop in New York. After quickly gabbing with Alden over studying at NYU (at which he's got one semester left through his both budding and hectic film career), the three of us got to talking about 'Beautiful Creatures,' creating the pair's on-screen chemistry, and that dreaded question -- is 'Beautiful Creatures' the new 'Twilight'? -- all while Alden and Alice are simultaneously doodling on paper because they've been on this press tour for about eight weeks now and you'd probably be doing the same after weeks of interviews.